Car tent



June 26, 1962 ZERBE 3,040,756

CAR TENT Filed Sept. 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FigJ.

IN VEN TOR. 1 l8 Howard E. Z erbe BY Fig.3.

his ATTORNEY June 26, 1962 H. E. ZERBE 3,040,756

CAR TENT Filed Sept 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. Howard E. Zerbe his ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,040,756 CAR TENT Howard E. Zerbe, Kiwanis Trail, Du Bois, Pa. Filed Sept. 29, 1960, Ser. No. 59,381 3 Claims. (Cl. 1353) This invention relates to a car tent and, more particularly, to a tent which can be portably mounted on top of a car, such as an automobile or truck.

It is well known in the art to mount a tent on top of a car, which tent may be opened up so as to serve as a shelter for protecting the occupant of the vehicle overnight.

An outstanding disadvantage of such shelters is that they are relatively complicated in construction, diflicult to open or assemble, and are rather bulky, also, they are of such construction that no other device can be conveniently mounted thereon when loaded on top of a car.

An object of my invention is to provide a car tent that is devoid of the above named disadvantages :and which can be easily and quickly assembled or stored away and which is of such construction that other baggage may be conveniently placed on top thereof when packed on the roof of a car.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a car tent which can be quickly packed within a trunk-like box and which may be stored and packed merely by slidable movement of parts in an easy and quick fashion, and which is of fiat top construction so as to provide a very convenient flat support for other luggage to be carried on top of the car.

A further object of my invention is to provide a portable tent which is preferably made of channel sections of metal which are relatively slidably mounted in a manner so as to provide structural strength and shelter protection against the elements-even against strong winds, so as to adequately safeguard and protect the occupant.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front or elevational view of a car, shown in dot and dash outline, with a portable tent embodying my invention and shown in the erected position;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view showing only the tent casing or compartment when the tent is enclosed or packed therein;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the tent compartment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view of the tent shown in FIG. 1 and more clearly illustrating the manner the top or lid part of the compartment is locked in the extended position;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view showing how the various channeled panels, forming the top of the tent, are telescoped and provided with stop elements to limit the amount of relative sliding movement therebetween;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the car tent in open position supplemented by canvas side and end panels;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through the lid showing how the canvas is hooked on thereto; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken at the top of post 7 showing how the lid and canvas are supported thereon. Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a car, illustrated in dot and dash outline, and numeral 2 denotes the body of a trunk or compartment made of either wood or metal and supported on rubber suction cups 3 of conventional construction to provide a yleldable mounting on top of the car. Lid 4 of the trunk has a top panel 11 and sides 12 Patented June 26, 1962 tapered at the bottom and which slide on bearings 13 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) fastened by brackets 14 to opposite side panels of the box and which cooperate with rollers 26 to guide the lid 4 as it slides on top of the trunk when pulled by handle 41: so that the lid 4 may be slid from the open posit-ion shown in FIG. 1 to the closed position shown in FIG. 2. Lid 4 is locked in the open position by turning a window type latch element 15 relative to element 16 as the ends of the side panels of the box and lid engage.

Within the lid 4 there is telescopically fitted a panel 5, having a top portion 21 and side channels 19 which are adapted to slide relative to, and are guided by channels 18 secured to the side panels 12 of lid 4 (see FIG. 6). Panel 5 may be extended to the position shown in FIG. 1. The limit of the extension of panel 5 from the lid 4 is controlled by the cross brace element 20 attached to the top end which is engaged by an end stop member attached to the bottom of panel 4. The stop is so positioned that only a portion of the panel 5 may be extended from the lid 4 so as to insure sufiicient structural strength. Likewise, panel 6 having top panel 23 and side channel shaped panels 24, is slidably fitted within panel 5 and its outward sliding movement is limited by rollers 26 mounted on the bottom flanges of channels 19 and which engages cross brace 25 mounted on the bottom of top panel 23 so as to limit the outward movement of panel 6 to a little more than half of the normal length thereof to provide suflicient structural strength. Plastic edge strips 24' are provided to prevent entry of rain or snow between the slidable panels.

The outer end of panel 6 is supported by two support rods 7, one at each corner, which telescopicaly fit in an adjustable manner in sleeves and are clamped to any adjustable length by clamps 8, which sleeves are mounted on the ground surface. The tops of supports 7 are provided with caps 9 having tips 10 which are fastened to the corners of panels 6 by insertion through holes at the bottom thereof as shown more clearly in FIG. 9. Similar caps 10 are provided on the bottoms of posts 7 having tips which firmly dig into and form an anchor with the ground surface. Tips 10 provide a convenient means for holding the supports 7 when contained within the box or trunk 2 by projecting through holes 10a in opposite panels of the trunk as shown in FIG. 3.

When the tent is in the assembled or erected position as shown in FIG. 7, canvas portions, such as 30, may be secured to the side portions of panels 4, 5 and 6 as well as to the side at right angles thereto provided between the two posts 7 so :as to provide three side panels having bottom ends provided with eyelets for receiving ground pegs or rods, much like in an army pup tent. The side portions of the canvas panels may be longer than the height of the panels 4, 5 and 6 so as to be inclined outwardly to give greater floor surface, such as in a pup tent, Whereas the panel on the end part may be either vertical, that is, extend straight up and down between the end posts 7, or may be slanted outwardly to provide even greater covered ground area.

As shown in FIG. 8, hooks 32 are provided at the top edge of the canvas panels so as to engage holes formed in the bottom flange of channel 18.

As shown in FIG. 9, eyelets 33 formed in the top edge of the canvas at the corners of the tent, are slipped onto tips 10 at the top of posts 7 to anchor the corners.

An important feature of the invention is that the lid 4, when in place, provides a flat top surface which pro vides an excellent support for mounting items of luggage,

such as suitcases, trunks and the like, on a car. Of

aluminum or other suitable metal, or perhaps, even of laminated or otherwise reinforced plastic.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efiicient car tent which may be easily stored in a trunk or compartment and which may be withdrawn or erected simply by pulling out the lid of the trunk, which trunk provides a flat support on which other luggage may be supported; furthermore I have provided a trunk-like compartment having panels which are relatively slidable to only a limited degree to insure structural strength of the car tent.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim: 1 g

1. A collapsible car tent for mounting on the roof of a car comprising 'a rectangular box having side panels, said box having a flat top lid, said lid having sides with tapered sliding surfaces, bearings located Within and adjacent the side panels of said box for slidably engaging said sliding surfaces, a plurality of relatively slidable panels telescopically slidable in'said lid, stop means for limiting outward sliding movement of said panels, and

4 post means for supporting the corners of the free end of the outermost panel.

2. A collapsible car tent as recited in claim 1 wherein said stop means includes a stop element in each panel engageable with a relatively slidable panel to limit the amount of extension of the relatively slidable panels.

3. A collapsible car tent for mounting on the roof of a car, comprising a rectangular trunk having side panels, a base, and a lid slidably mounted so as to move substantially parallel to the base of said trunk and extensible so as to overhang a portion beyond the side of the car, said lid having sides with tapered sliding surfaces, bearings located within and adjacent the side panels of said trunk for slidably engaging said sliding surfaces, a plurality of panels slidably and extensibly mounted relative to said lid, stop means mounted on said panels to limit their outward sliding movement, and locking means for locking said lid in the fully extended position, a pair of posts for supporting the corners of the panel slid outermost, whereby said lid and panels, when extended, will serve as a roof for covering an area at the side of the car.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,938,525 MacKinlay May 31, 1960 

